…to refocus for next phase
T&T Under-17 women Soca Warriors Rajesh Latchoo says he was very pleased with his team’s performance during their Caribbean Football Union Group Three preliminary qualifiers in St Kitts/Nevis which ended last Wednesday.
However, following their 4-0 victory over St Kitts/Nevis on Wednesday, the T&T contingent was forced to remain in St Kitts for a couple additional nights due to the Tropical Storm Erika warning.
The players and staff members departed St Kitts in two batches on Saturday and Sunday.
And following his return home on Sunday, Latchoo said he was pleased with the showing of the team in their opening group phase.
A former coach at Joe Public, Latchoo said, “I was quite pleased with the way the players handled everything, They adapted well to the conditions and despite some of the challenges with the weather and the delay in matches, they kept it together and really demonstrated that they were the best team in the group.”
“Nia Honore had a fabulous tournament and has a very bright future. The captain Kelsey Henry was solid as usual and deserved her goal.
"Laurel Theodore played her role well as our impact player in the final game, coming on and getting many strikes on goal. Arianna Campbell was most effective in midfield during first half. Our back four and goalkeepers were consistent, they completed our objective on keeping a clean sheet. And I couldn’t have asked for more, " added Latchoo
Latchoo also paid tribute to the work of the technical staff saying: “The support staff has been tremendous in making the girls comfortable off the field. We thank God for keeping us safe during the first storm, Danny, and then being able to come through the second one (Erika) without any problems.”
“Now we’ll settle down again and start to refocus on the next phase which is crucial as we need to remain consistent and take this all the way into the Concacaf finals and then the World Cup in Jordan next year,” he stated.
In the CFU eight-team final round qualifiers, T&T will come up against Haiti, Dominican Republic and Barbados in Group B round-robin play while Cuba, Bermuda, hosts Puerto Rico and Jamaica will compete in Group A from November 13-18 in San Juan.
At the end of the group stages, the top two teams in each group will advance to the semifinals from which the finalist will join host Grenada as qualifiers to the 2016 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship from which three Concacaf teams will qualify for the Fifa Under-17 Women’s World Cup.
During the other preliminary groups, Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica topped their respective Groups One, Two and Four, in the same order, in the preliminary round group stage which ran from July 15 to 19 in three countries.
In Group One, Cuba garnered nine points from three games beating Dominican Republic (2-0), Cayman Islands (6-0) and Bahamas (5-1) while Dominican Republic was second after topping Bahamas 2-0 and Cayman Islands 3-2 in their other matches.
Haiti topped Group Two by winning both games and gaining six points, over Curacao (7-1) and Bermuda (4-0) while the latter was second after a 6-1 defeat of Curacao.
And Jamaica racked up maximum nine points from three games in Group Four thanks to victories, against Barbados (2-1), St Lucia (14-0) and Suriname (1-0). The Bajans advanced as group runner-up with wins over Suriname (2-1) and St Lucia (3-0).
CFU Under-17 Women Final Round, Puerto Rico
November 13-18, 2015:
Group A: Cuba, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Jamaica
Group B: T&T, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Barbados
Fixtures:
Group A:
November 13: Cuba vs Bermuda; Puerto Rico vs Jamaica
November 15: Jamaica vs Bermuda; Puerto Rico vs Cuba
November 17: Cuba vs Jamaica; Puerto Rico vs Bermuda
Group B:
November 14: T&T vs Dominican Republic; Haiti vs Barbados
November 16: Dominican Republic vs Haiti; T&T vs Barbados
November 18: Barbados vs Dominican Republic; Haiti vs T&T
Semifinals:
November 20:
Winner Group A vs Runner-up Group B
Winner Group B vs Runner-up Group A
Third place & Final: November 22